Dr. B K Sarkar

Snoring can frustrate the people who share your home and it likely leaves you feeling tired in the morning. 

Snoring is when you sleep, the muscles of your throat relax, your tongue falls backward, and your throat becomes narrow and "floppy." As you breathe, the walls of the throat begin to vibrate - generally when you breathe in, but also, to a lesser extent, when you breathe out. These vibrations lead to the characteristic sound of snoring. 

Causes of snoring: age, being overweight or obese, drinking too much alcohol, blocked nasal passage, etc.

It’s not a condition to ignore. Reasons to take snoring seriously: 

· Leads to poor night sleep.

· You may not realize how disruptive your snoring is, but it may have a serious impact on your spouse.

· Snoring can also cause you to have a dry mouth or sore or irritated throat when you wake up.

· Snoring leads to feeling of tiredness all the time, less focused, etc.

Tips you can follow which will help you to prevent it:

• Change Your Sleep Position. Lying on your back at night causes your tongue and soft palate  to collapse back into your airways causing you to snore. Hence, try to sleep on your side rather than your back.
• Go to bed at the same time every night and get plenty of sleep. Regular sleep patterns help you sleep better, and more restful sleep may reduce snoring.
• Elevate your head with pillows to improve airflow through your nasal passages and to help you breathe easier.
• Keep your nose clear, so that you breathe in through your nose rather than your mouth. 
• Sinus can be one of the causes for snoring so including Vitamin C in diet for immune system. E.g.papaya, bell peppers, broccoli, pineapple, etc.
• If overweight or obese then reduce your weight.
• Drink plenty of water. Stay well hydrated.
• Eat healthy like complex carbs (whole grains,oats, etc), lean protein (lean chicken, fish, etc) and healthy fats like Omega-3 (fish, flax seeds, olive oil, etc).
• Exercise daily. Yes it helps to reduce snoring.
• Avoid eating heavy meals just before bedtime.
• Avoid saturated fats in diet like red met, mayonnaise,etc.
• Avoid drinking alcohol as they relax the muscles in the throat and interfere with breathing.
• Quite smoking.
• Talk to your doctor about your problem.